Electric-arc lighting.



110.761,380.' A I PATBNTED MAY a1, 1904.

J..A.HBANY. l ELECT-RIG ARG LIGHTING.

APPLIOATlON FILED IB. 4. 1904.

m) MODEL.

UNITED .STATES Patented May Y31, 1904.977

PATENT. OFFICE.

JOI-IN ALLEN HEANY, .OE YORK, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE TETER-HEANY DEVELOPING COMPANY, OE CHARLESTON, WEST VIROINIAA CORPORATION OE WEST VIRGINIA. f.

LEORIQARO. LIGHTING.

` SPECIFICATION forming part of vrettete Patent No. 761,380, dated May 31, 1904,.

' Original application 4filed. December 4., 1903, Serial No. I1.83,'703. Divided and this ,Y 110.191,94.' (No model.)

T0 ,MZ whom it may concern/.

Be it known that I, JOHN ALLEN HEANY, a citizen of the United States, residing at York, inthe county of York and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric-Arc Lighting, of which the following is a specification.

` My invention 4has relation to electric'light- To those Skilled in the art it is well knownl that certain substances-such as metallic oXids, metallic salts, &c. -are normally non-arcing when used as the electrodes or terminals for the current. While such substances with currentsY of high tension may, perhaps, when brought close together discharge the current in disrupted arcs or sparks, yet such disrupted arcing orsparking is not useful in the production of a light such as is emitted from the ordinary arc-lamp having carbon electrodes. I have discovered how these normally non-arcing materials may be brought to a condition Wherein an arc of appreciable size and continuityv can be formed and maintained between electrodes composed of these materials, so that af light of greaterluminosity and sharpness can be obtained at much less amperage than the amperage required in either the ordinary in-l application iiled February 4, i904. Serial grammatically an aro-lamp embodying main features of my invention, and Fig. 2 isla front elevational view of a modified form of electrodev. l

Referring to Fig. 1 ofl the drawings, t represents a hollow-plug, of di-eletric material, surrounded'by a screw-cap b, of metal, having a downwardly-projecting iange into which a globe d is litted. Within the hollow of the plug a is secured a carbon or graphite resistance e, connected by a metallic plug e with one terminal ofthe circuit. The screwcap b is connected with the other terminal of the circuit. The electrodes f f of the lamp are respectively connected with the resistance e by a divided wire g, the ends of which are connected by a thermostat 7L and a continuous wire e', depending from the screw-cap I). So

-far as described the parts and their arrangev ment are comparatively unimportant and embody merely one of many forms of lamps in which my present invention may be embodied or carried out. In Fig. 1 the electrodes ff are sfperical, or substantially so, in shape. In Fig. 2 the electrodes f f are pencils of the materials.' One or both of each of the electrodes f f or f f is or are formed of a material non-arcing at ordinary temperaturessuch, for instance, as the metallic oXids or Salts yof metals, as cerium, thorium, calcium, mag'nc# sium, yttrium, &c.

Where these oXids or' salts are sufficiently coherent to be molded orl formed into the shape required and to main :tain the same under the influence of high heat, they may be used alone; otherwise a binding agent-such as a borate, carbonate,

phosphate, Sulfate, or even boracic acid-y should be used. When the electrodes are When, however, the

heated to redness or, substantially to incandeseence, an are of appreciable size and continuity will be formed and maintained between the electrodes when the tension of the current is relatively low-say about one hundred and ten Volts-and the amperage much I less than is required in the ordinary incandescent or filamentr lamp-say from one-tenth to one-half of an ampere or from eleven to fifty-live Watts. vNot only is such a continuous are formed or maintained, but the luminosity and sharpness of the light are materially greater than that which the incandescent lamp gives under greater consumption of current. One means of initially heating the electrodes ff or f f may be a. spirit-lampy or Bunsen burner m, as illustrated in Fig. 2. Another which is not extraneous to the lamp, and therefore preferableisto incorporate in the electrodes a highly conductive materialsuclnfor instance, as platinumgold, iridium, &e., whichas is well known, are good-conductors-withinordinary temperatures. The effect ofcombining or incorporating such a good conduetor with the non-arcing material or materials is to render such material or materials a partial conductor or conductorof high. resistance. When theelectrodes f for f f touch, as illustrated,V in the drawings, the passage oi' the current through the electrodes ff and f f of highresistance servesalmostinstantaneously to heat the electrodesto-.redness or;` incandescence. By including a resistance e, of graphitefor similar material, in

the circuit the flow of current to the electrodes will be regulated inversely tothe distance the electrodes are separated from each other to form the are. The inclusion of a thermostat L or equivalent arc adjusting means in the circuit renders the regulation of the size of the arc automatic.

Having thus described the nature and object of my invention, what I claim as new, and (lesire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. The improvement in electric-arc lighting, which consists in first heating the electrodes or 'terminals `of normally non-arcing material to arcing temperature, and then establishing and maintaining an arc between them.

2. The improvement in electric-are lighting, which-consists in first heating by a small current the electrodes or terminals of normally non-arcing material` to arcing temperature, andthen establishing and maintaining an arc between them.

3. The improvement in electric-arc lighting,

ing witnesses.

JOHN ALLEN HEANY. Witnesses:

J. WALTER DoueLAss, THOMAS M. SMITH. 

